The invention relates to a component placement device comprising an elongated transport device by means of which substrates to be provided with components can be moved in a transport direction parallel to the transport device. The component, placement device further comprises at least one component feeder, which is located along a longitudinal side of the transport device, as well as a component pick-and-place unit by means of which a component can be picked-up from the component feeder and placed on a substrate. One such component placement device is disclosed in International Patent Application No. WO95/19099, in which component feeders are arranged on either one of the two longitudinal sides of the transport device.
By means of pick-and-place units, components are picked-up from the component feeders and placed on the substrates supported by the transport device. The size of the substrate in a direction transverse to the transport direction depends, among other things, on the distance between the feeders located on either one of the two sides of the transport device. To keep the distance between the component feeders and the substrate as short as possible, the component feeders are typically arranged as close to the transport device as possible. The size of the substrates that can be provided with components by conventional devices is such that on the one hand a great variety of substrates can be provided with components by the same component placement device, whereas at the same time the distance between the component feeders and the substrates is as short as possible.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional component placement device 1. The device 1 includes, among other things, a frame 2, a transport device 3 supported by the frame 2, a beam 4 supported by the frame 2, and rows of component feeders 5 supported by the frame 2. The rows of component feeders 5 are positioned along either one of the two sides of the transport device 3. The beam 4, which is movable in and opposite to the direction indicated by the arrow Y, supports a slide 6 that includes a number of component pick-and-place units 7. The pick-and-place units 7 are movable, by means of the slide 6, relative to the beam 4 in and opposite to the direction indicated by the arrow X. The transport device 3 comprises two guide profiles 8 that extend parallel to each other.
The operation of the conventional component placement device 1 is as follows. A substrate 9 is supported by the guide profiles 8 and is transported by the transport device 3 in the direction indicated by the arrow X through the component placement device 1. The component pick-and-place units 7 are moved in and opposite to the direction indicated by arrow X and also in and opposite to the direction indicated by the arrow Y between the various component feeders at which components are picked-up from the component feeders 5 by means of the component pick-and-place units 7. Subsequently, the component pick-and-place units 7 are consecutively taken to the desired positions on the substrate 9 at which the components are mounted on the substrate 9 by means of the component pick-and-place units 7. The maximum size B of the substrate 9 is determined by the maximum mutual distance between the guide profiles 8 of the transport device 3. Consequently, substrates 9 having a size B which is, for example, twice or three times as large as the size shown in FIG. 1, cannot be provided with components by the transport device 3.
In practice, this means that relatively large substrates (i.e., substrates that have a relative large dimension in a direction that extends transverse to the transport direction) cannot be provided with components by means of the conventional component placement devices. Such large substrates must be provided with components either by hand or by a special, alternative (or additional) component placement device, which has a relatively large distance between the component feeders and the substrate. In addition, such alternative (or additional) a component placement devices are relatively expensive, occupy a relatively large amount of space, and are used relatively rarely.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a component placement device that is suitable in a relatively simple manner for components to be placed on both relatively large substrates and on customary substrates.